1. Field of the invention
The present invention pertains to children's dolls and, more particularly, to a substantially flat fabric doll upon which can be attached and removed various articles of play clothing for children.
2. History of the Prior Art
The prior art is replete with doll structures constructed for the enjoyment of small children. These doll assemblies vary from inexpensive paper dolls that can be cut from scrap newspaper and the like to expensive porcelain dolls. The variety of doll design and construction is the result of a widespread popularity in dolls by both young people and adults. One aspect of adult interest is the lucrative market for doll sales and the sale of doll related items. This multi-million dollar industry has been the subject of numerous innovations in both doll construction and wearing apparel.
One of the most lucrative aspects of the doll market is that of doll clothing. The sale of accessory items for dolls has become a major market due to the fact that accessory items can become outdated, torn, soiled and lOst. This results in additional purchases. Moreover, accessory items can easily provide renewed interest in existing dolls fOr the very young user.
The accent upon accessory items for dolls has necessitated doll construction which lends itself to more durability and prolonged use. The design must be sufficiently innovative to generate and maintain the interest of a young user, and yet it must be priced sufficiently low to permit widespread market acceptance. Plastic dolls have proven to be the most versatile in design and durability while providing ample leeway for changes in clothing style. In many instances, the plastic doll is movable and is constructed with features very closely resembling that of more expensive dolls. These features include hair color, length, style, texture and significant facial detail. One problem area with such dolls is the cost. Although the majority of the accepted dolls in the market today are priced sufficiently low for the average consumer, it is not always economically feasible to purchase a plurality of identical dolls for purposes of multiple play. One of the advantages of the less expensive paper doll, which in certain instances has basically no cost, is that a number of identical paper dolls can be constructed and clothing interchanged between each. The fabrication of paper dolls is generally left to the imagination of the user. The fabrication material can vary from the most inexpensive paper (such as newspaper) to high gloss cardboard and other more exotic materials.
One common problem in the use of simple paper doll constructions is the variety of clothes that can be assembled therewith and the manner of attaching the clothes to the doll. Adhesives such as cement and tape are often used for securing fabrics to cardboard paper doll configurations. These are, of course, only temporary in nature because the adhesive will often lose its usefulness. At times this is a rather moot point, however, because the doll itself can become easily torn or misshapen due to the propensity of paper, cardboard and the like to bend, fold and crease and thereby lose its shape. Moreover, those areas of the doll such as the arms and the neck comprise the smallest cross-sectional regions of the doll and the regions which are most susceptible to the aforesaid folds and the resultant misshapen appearance.
As discussed, it is known in the prior art to make many forms of commercial and handmade dolls. For example, one may fabricate stuffed fabric dolls by stitching material panels together having padding or stuffing therebetween. However, such dolls are generally limp if the padding is not tightly padded or somewhat rotund if the doll is full of stuffing. The requisite degree of stiffness is not, in other words, generally found in substantially planar dolls that are not stuffed to the "rotund" state. Thus, "paper type" dolls that are cut out of fabric such as felt instead of paper are limp unless they have some backing, such as cardboard. Cardboard can, of course, develop creases and it detracts from the doll's appearance. These are but a few of the prior art problems.
It would be an advantage, therefore, to overcome the problems of the prior art by providing a doll configuration resembling a paper doll shape which does not suffer from the problems of paper dolls. One such design is provided by the method and apparatus of the present invention which provides a fabric paper doll constructed of sufficiently durable materials for allowing multiple use, cleaning and the renewed interest of the user. The doll is constructed for overcoming the "limpness" aspects found in thin paper dolls and incorporates means for affording stiffness to those regions of the doll which are ordinarily easily bent. This configuration is provided in an assemblance which is durable and yet lends itself to the interchange of replaceable garments and wearing apparel in an economical configuration that is affordable to a very wide market even in multiple purchase scenarios.